Dozens of PGA Pros Say Drug Testing Is Limited

MARANA, Ariz. — The player most likely to be subjected to rigorous testing under the PGA Tour’s antidoping program would figure to be Tiger Woods, a 14-time major champion and one of the brightest stars in the sporting firmament.

But Woods said Tuesday that he had never been tested away from a tournament site. The only time he has been tested outside of competition, he said, was at the World Challenge in 2008, the year the tour’s antidoping policy was instituted. Woods played host at the tournament but did not play in it because he was recovering from knee surgery.

Referring to being tested away from a tournament site, Woods said, “I know guys who have, but I have not.”

This week’s Accenture Match Play Championship is Woods’s first competition since Vijay Singh admitted that he used deer antler spray, which contains IGF-1, an insulinlike growth factor that is on the tour’s list of prohibited substances.

Singh’s admission has thrown a spotlight on the tour’s antidoping program, which states that players can be tested in and out of tournament competition, and the PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw insisted the tour conducted tests on and off tournament sites. He did not provide details, citing privacy issues.

But Rory McIlroy, the world’s No. 1 player, said he was not among those tested. He was asked Tuesday when he was last tested outside of a tournament.

“Never,” he replied.

Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, former No. 1 players, also said they had never been tested away from a tournament site. Nor had Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson, who have won four majors apiece. Of the 54 players asked here and at the Northern Trust Open — roughly 25 percent of the PGA Tour — not one said he had been subject to testing outside a tournament week. “No, we don’t do that,” Jerry Kelly said. Scott Piercy, a two-time tour winner, said: “I’d be surprised if they did that. That’s borderline illegal.”

A few former collegiate players on tour said they assumed they could be tested out of competition, based on the N.C.A.A.’s doping protocol. Luke Guthrie, Charlie Wi and Harris English said they had been tested outside of a tournament setting in college but not since turning professional.

Votaw said that collecting players’ urine samples at a tournament site before the competitive rounds began — on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at most events — was considered out-of-competition testing. “WADA accepts out-of-competition testing as Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and we have done that,” Votaw said, referring to the World Anti-Doping Agency, which has developed the antidoping code to which all Olympic sports must adhere.

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Tiger Woods said he had never been tested away from a tournament site.CreditStuart Franklin/Getty Images

The athletes under the Olympic umbrella must provide WADA with a daily one-hour window of availability, listing when and where drug testers can find them. Urine and blood samples can be collected.

The PGA Tour does not require players to give their whereabouts, which would make it difficult for testers to collect samples away from tournaments, because some tour members maintain multiple residences on different continents.

In 2016, golf will be contested at the Olympics, at which time the players designated as possible participants in the Rio de Janeiro Games will be subject to out-of-competition testing at their homes and training facilities. Testing could include the collection of blood, which is not part of the PGA Tour’s program. There are substances, including IGF-1 and human growth hormone, that can be detected only through blood tests.

Out-of-competition testing is considered important because it provides a deterrent to athletes who might want to take banned substances to aid their recovery from hard training or an injury.

Stuart Appleby, who is among the top 20 on the career money list, said: “If they have the ability to test outside of competition, the question is, have you exercised the option? If they’re not doing it or not disclosing it, is there a reason behind it?”

Of the tour players questioned, many said they had been tested fewer than three times in the past year, and always at a tournament site. By comparison, Missy Franklin, a swimmer who won four gold medals at the London Olympics, has been tested 14 times by the United States Anti-Doping Agency since March 29, 2012, including four times outside of competition. In two of the tests, urine and blood samples were collected. She was also tested four other times by FINA, the sport’s international federation.

The results of the tests administered by Usada are posted on its Web site. It is what the athletes demanded, said Travis Tygart, the chief executive of the agency. The privacy issues that prohibit the PGA Tour from disclosing more information about testing will not be an issue starting in 2016.

“That won’t happen when the players come under the Olympic jurisdiction because it’s contrary to the principles of independence and transparency,” Tygart said in a telephone interview. “Our athletes demand that we publish specifically who has been tested and how often so they have confidence that there’s truly a level playing field.”

“I don’t think they anticipated anybody would have admitted using a performance-enhancing drug,” said Bob Estes, a four-time tour winner. “I don’t want to say they’re hiding behind the policy, I just don’t think they anticipated ever having this problem.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B16 of the New York edition with the headline: Many PGA Tour Pros Say Drug Testing Is Limited. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe